Letter N, /n/

Letter N

Teaching The Letter N

Show your child how to pronounce the letter N. Like letter M, there is nasal involvement here. Get your child to press their tongue on the upper portion of their mouth, and then make the letter N sound by blowing air out of their nose.

There are a lot of words that start with N and your child will probably know some of these examples:

No

Nose

Net

Nest

Name

Number

Teaching your child about the letter N starts when they are very young. You should read to them every day and there are special letter N books available. You can find these books in the stores or online. They may also be available to borrow at your library. If you can, go for books that have funny drawings and nursery rhymes in them, as this will really help your child remember what they are learning. Be consistent here, and always show a high level of patience.

Does your child have the letter M in their name? If they do, then you can spell out the letters in your child’s name and show them where the letter N occurs. If there is no letter N in their name then you can find other names with the letter N. These can be family members or TV characters, as long as your child can recognize them. With all of these names be sure to spell them out so your child can see the letter N.

Here are some names beginning with N that your child may already know:

Nina

Nancy

Nick

Nelly

Ned

Nat

You can then move on to more challenging names that start with the letter N such as:

Norman

Nathaniel

Nigel

Norma

Nadine

Naomi

If You Make It Fun Your Child Will Learn More

You want to have fun teaching letter N to your child. It is very important that they see this learning experience as fun, because they will then want to learn more. There are many ways that learning the letter N can be fun, and a number of these letter N activities are discussed later in this article. There are letter N worksheets that you can get online that have fun drawings and your child will enjoy using.

A really fun activity is the singing of letter N songs. You can find a lot of these songs online, and when you find good ones make sure that you learn them and sing them with your child. Letter N videos are also available, and you can watch these together as well. Below is an example of a letter N song that is also a letter N video.

You will really help your child to learn the letter N by learning and singing these songs together. They will think that this is great fun and will want to repeat this many times, so make the time to do this with them. They will never forget this experience of learning the letter N with you.

Other Letter N Activities For Preschool Kids That Can Be Really Fun

Along with worksheets, songs and videos there are other letter L activities that are fun to do with your child. This starts with:

Looking For Things That Start With N In Your Home

Your child will find looking for things that start with the letter N at home very good fun. There are a number of things that you can find, and to help you think about nachos, napkins, necklaces, neckties, a newspaper, nightgown, noodles and nuts. When you find these objects, take the time to spell out the letters of the words using toy letters or just a pen and paper.

There are a lot of other N words that your toddler will have heard on TV, or members of their family speaking. Some of these N words for kids are nose, no, not, neck, nails, nest, night, nine, November and now. Again it is important to show real life examples or pictures here. You can point to your neck for example. Spell the words out again so that your child can see that they start with N.

What about words with N in them but not words that start with the letter N? There are a huge number of these words. Always start off with the easier ones such as any, one, thin, pin, pan, snow, win, snail, can, run, bun, ink and pen. Spell out these words using plastic letters or magnetic letters, and indicate where the letter N appears in the words.

You can take this activity outside when you are shopping or travelling with your toddler. You can look for words starting with N or words with N in them, in stores and restaurants and anywhere else you go with your child. Don’t forget those road signs when you are travelling too.

Animals That Start With The Letter N

Animals are fun for kids, so looking for N animals will be enjoyable for them. There are not that many animals that start with N so this will be quite a challenge. Your child will possibly know newt and nightingale, and then there are lesser known animals such as a narwhal, natrix, needlefish and newfoundland. Find pictures of these animals and spell out the letters in their name.

You can then move on to animals that have the letter N as part of their name but not at the start. These will be a bit easier to find and some well known examples are snake, ant, antelope, chimpanzee, dolphin, dragonfly, elephant, flamingo and panda. There are many pictures of these animals online, and be sure to spell out their names so that the position of letter N is clear.

It is a good idea to show your toddler pictures of the letter N in both the big letter N (capital N) format and the small letter N (lowercase letter N) format, so that they understand there is a difference. Explain to your child where the capital letter N would be used. A good example of this is the use of people’s names.

You can print off large examples of both the letter N formats or find examples of these online that can be printed. Ask your child to trace around both formats so that they get the feel of them. When they are able to, get them to write both formats of the letter N.

Your Child Need To Understand Phonics

In order for your child to become a good reader they need to understand phonics. Letter N phonics are sounds or phonemes that are made by the letter N. All the letters of the alphabet have unique phonemes, and combining some letters will produce these as well. Developing your child’s phonemic awareness is crucial to their reading development. There is more information about the letter N sounds below.

English Alphabet LETTER N SOUNDS:

N /n/:

The 14th letter in the alphabet is N which is a voiced sound consonant and like the M sound, it is a nasal sound that is produced through the NOSE and not the mouth. The letter N is pronounced in the same way as M and NG. Your child may have difficulty distinguishing the differences between the N and the M sounds, so be aware and repeat the correct sound while doing the lessons.

The N sound is produced when the middle of your tongue touches the roof of your mouth. The only difference between the N and M sound is that when you say N your mouth is slightly open and with M it is closed.

Show your child how when they say other word sounds such as /a/, /b/ /c/ or any other words that the sound is produced by air coming through the mouth not the nose.

Take a moment to say each word out loud while drawing out the NNNNNNNN sound while you speak.

Examples:

NOT: /n/ /o/ /t/

NEW: /n/ /e/ /w/

NUTS: /n/ /u/ /t/ /s/

Exercises for /n/

Before you begin, print a piece of paper for the Letter N/n/

Also print a piece of paper with the following words for N:
NET
NAP
NEST
NECK

NEED
NINE
NOW

Show your child the Letter on the index card or paper and repeat the letter sound several times: N and also drag out the nnnnn hearing the nasal sound

Do your best to teach your child how to make the nasal sound. As with the M sound, pinch your nose and demonstrate how you cannot make the n sound while you do that. Then watch your child do the same thing. In the beginning always be sure that your child drags out the nnnnnnn sound.
Note: Children sometimes get confused with n and m sounds and inadvertently transpose the letters such at net for met

Take time with your child to be sure the /n/ sound is pronounced correctly

Listen carefully as your child repeats the sound after you

Ask your child if different words have the /n/ sound and wait to see the response. Always repeat the word using the letter sound to be sure your child knows the sound

Continue to repeat other short sound I words such as NEW, NEXT, NAME, NEED

Finalize the lesson by asking your child to tell you the sound of the letters

Teaching Your Child To Read At Home Is Easy When You Have The Right Help

A lot of parents have taught their kids to read at home before they attended school, and there is no reason why you cannot do the same. Most of these parents were aided by a proven, high quality reading program that guided them every step of the way. Using these reading programs, they were able to teach their children to read even if they were only 2 years old.

You want to use a program that has been proven to be effective and that is also inexpensive. With Jim Yang’s Children Learning Reading program you will be provided with precise instructions and all of the books and other materials that you need to teach your child to read. Jim taught his 3 kids to read when they were just 2 years old. Check out this very effective reading program here.

If you want a simple and efficient way to teach the letter O please click here to go to the next section.